Thunder Burial

"Got it, got it. Hmph, this guy actually dared to ambush me. Doki, smash him flat!"

The member of the Kaguya clan, restrained by spider silk, could only watch helplessly as the thick wooden club drew closer.

"No, don't!"

Unfortunately, his pleas were in vain; with a powerful strike from Doki, he was driven deep into the ground.

"Ugh... you... you despicable..."

Having taken such a blow head-on, even a member of the Kaguya clan, known for their superior physical constitution, breathed his last in a fit of resentment.

With the coordination of the group, even two experienced Kaguya clan elites met their end under such bizarre and unpredictable attacks.

Unlike Tayuya and Kidomaru's side, in the center of the battlefield, Biwa Juzo and Raiga Kurosuki had fallen into a difficult situation.

Having continuously unleashed Lightning Style ninjutsu earlier, Raiga Kurosuki had exhausted most of his chakra without achieving the desired results. Forced into a corner, he had no choice but to switch to melee mode to engage Taketori Nihi in close-quarters combat.

As for Biwa Juzo, ninjutsu was not his forte, and with his Kubikiribōchō shattered, he took a long sword from a nearby Kirigakure Anbu and joined Raiga Kurosuki in attacking Taketori Nihi.

Even while facing the pincer attack of two Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Taketori Nihi appeared to have plenty of room to spare. The bone whip in his right hand lashed out at the airborne Biwa Juzo, forcing him to block with his sword. The bone spear in his left hand thrust directly at Raiga Kurosuki's face, leaving the latter no choice but to parry with his twin blades.

"Bang!" As the bone spear collided heavily with the twin blades, a massive force traveled through the weapons into Raiga Kurosuki's arms, numbing them instantly.

Raiga Kurosuki knew he certainly couldn't withstand a second strike from Taketori Nihi.

"This level of power... it's no longer that of a Jonin. Could it be that you..."

Looking at Taketori Nihi, who was growing more ferocious by the second, it defied all logic—unless the opponent's strength exceeded the Jonin level.

"Hehehehe, for a dead man, you talk too much." Taketori Nihi retracted the bone spear from his left arm, then stepped back to gather momentum, the spiral-shaped bone spear spinning rapidly.

"Use your blood to please me! Kill me, or be killed by me!" Taketori Nihi's bloodthirsty gaze locked onto Raiga Kurosuki; he relished the process of fighting at full strength and hungered to drink the man's blood.

"Die! Die by my strongest spear." Under the pressure of Taketori Nihi's killing intent, Raiga Kurosuki found that even fleeing had become difficult.

"If that's the case, then let's die together!" Facing this fatal blow, Raiga Kurosuki let go of his fear of death and released the shackles in his heart.

Abandoning any attempt to block the incoming bone spear, Raiga Kurosuki raised his Kiba high, exhausting all his remaining chakra to draw down lightning from the clouds above.

"Lightning Style: Thunder Burial!"

The moment the bone spear pierced his body, a massive surge of violent lightning from the sky descended upon both Raiga Kurosuki and Taketori Nihi.

The explosive power of the lightning swallowed them both instantly, the dazzling light illuminating the entire sky, while the massive energy dispersed the fog surrounding the battlefield.

This was Raiga Kurosuki's strongest strike, a suicide move to trade his life for his enemy's.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom..."

"Quick, dodge!"

The terrifying lightning exploded, and the powerful shockwave, carrying electric sparks, spread outward, overturning the very soil of the ground. Everything in its path was destroyed as if plowed by something monstrous.

The surrounding Kirigakure Anbu and Kaguya clan members scrambled to avoid the aftermath, but a few who were too slow were caught in the lightning and instantly reduced to dust.

"Raiga Kurosuki is dead."

In the distance, Biwa Juzo muttered as he watched the scene. Of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen who once dominated the ninja world, only he remained. In less than two years, such a massive shift had left Biwa Juzo feeling lost.

Fortunately, Raiga Kurosuki's final strike looked powerful enough that it should have left Taketori Nihi severely wounded, or perhaps even killed him outright.

Even the surviving Kirigakure Anbu and Kaguya clan members shared this belief.

Seeing Taketori Nihi vanish into the blinding lightning, the Anbu began to secretly rejoice, believing the most troublesome enemy had been slain and that finishing off the remaining Kaguya remnants was only a matter of time.

The Kaguya clan members, seeing their head suffer such a lethal blow, didn't believe their clan could remain unscathed despite their elite Jonin strength, and a shadow of dread rose in their hearts.

However, the next scene left everyone present stunned.

When the lightning and smoke cleared, Raiga Kurosuki was nowhere to be seen, leaving only his twin blades stuck in the ground, devoid of their former thunderous power.

Although Kiba was among the top-ranked of the seven ninja swords, without its master, it was nothing more than a dead object.

Raiga Kurosuki's fate had been sealed the moment he was struck by Taketori Nihi's bone spear; everyone was more concerned with the whereabouts of the other party, Taketori Nihi.

"That's... a lie, right? He looks like he's completely fine..." As the center of the battlefield calmed, what met their eyes was Taketori Nihi, appearing in excellent condition, without a single scratch on him.

Seeing this, no one was happier than the Kaguya clan members present, their hearts finally settling.

"Wonderful! Clan Leader, seeing you uninjured is truly wonderful."

"Long live Clan Leader Nihi!"

With the tide turning, the morale of the Anbu plummeted.

Three Ninja Swordsmen and dozens of Anbu elites had launched a surprise attack on the Kaguya clan, which should have been a guaranteed victory. Yet, one Swordsman was dead, one had been rendered a crippled simpleton by his own ally's genjutsu, and the last one, while uninjured, had seen his weapon shattered by the enemy.

The sacrifices of the Kirigakure Anbu were no less than those of the Kaguya clan. Under the Kaguya's fearless combat style, some Anbu were left critically wounded by desperate counterattacks, while others were dragged into mutual destruction. This spirit of fighting to the death deeply shocked everyone present.

If they weren't already in Kirigakure, the remaining Anbu might have already begun to retreat. Even so, they saw no hope of victory unless the Mizukage or that mysterious Mizukage Aide personally entered the fray.